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Transversal Workshop on Fishing Capacity Rome, Italy February 2010 Management of Fishing capacity Under the Common Fisheries Policy Olga Armeni Directorate General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs

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Fishing vessel register E. Community fishing vessel register : was created in 1989 (relevant Council Re) Contains: Member States national registers= all commercial fishing vessels flying MS flag Caracteristics of fishing vessels: Technical: length in LOA,width, tonnage in GT, engine power in kW, fishing gear etc. Historical: date of entry and exit from service, modifications of characteristics. Administrative identifications: name, port, external marking. Personal data: agent and owner’s name and adress. -Role: it is an essential tool for the monitoring and controling of fishing capacity in national waters, EU waters and high seas. -Form: Electronic Database common for all MS: National register. -Periodic transmission: Each MS shall transmit a snapshot to the E.Commission (E. Community fishing register) on the first working day of Marc, June, September and December each year.

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Licensing Each commercial fishing vessel must have a valid fishing license on board= an official document containing the minimum requirements for each vessel Information in the license= information in the Community fishing register License is issued,updated, suspended or definitly withdrawn by MS

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Management of fishing capacity Definition: the fishing capacity of a vessel is its ability to catch fish. It is expressed in terms of tonnage, in GT, and propulsive power, in KW. Total fishing capacity of a MS: the sum of fishing vessels expressed in GT and KW. Limitations: the total fishing capacity for each MS is limited by the capacity levels of their fleet at a concrete cut of date ( for old MS, date of accession for other MS). These levels shall not be exceeded. Management: control based on entry/exit regime

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Why managing fishing capacity? Because: According to scientists, 30% of the stocks in EU waters and for which data exist, are fished outside biological limits and 80% are fished at levels above Maximum Sustainable Yield. Managing fisheries may be based on effort Effort= capacity x activity, so effort management implies capacity management To quantify capacity ‘indicators’ are used: Based on vessels characteristics Based on fishing gears characteristics

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Quantifying fishing capacity under EU law (Article 3 of Regulation 2371/2002) Tonnage in GT(Article 4 of Regulation 2930/86) Power in kW (Article 5 of Regulation 2930/86) The capacity of the fleet is the sum of the capacities of each of its vessels

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EU policy in relation to fishing capacity. The current system After the reform of the CFP in 2002: According to Article 11 of Regulation 2371/2002: ‘‘Member States shall put in place measures to adjust the fishing capacity of their fleets in order to achieve a sustainable balance between such fishing capacity and their fishing opportunities.’’ There are no mandatory capacity reductions The Community establishes capacity limitations for the fleet of each Member State. These capacity limitations concern the situation of Member States fishing fleet at a cut off date ( for EU Member States at that moment or date of accession for the other MS).

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The entry-exit regime According to Article 13 of Regulation 2371/2002 MS shall manage entries into the fleet and exits from the fleet based on two principles: 1.The entry of capacity has to be compesentated by the previous exit of an equal amount of capacity (in GT and kW) 2.The capacity that leaves the fleet with public aid cannot be replaced

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Monitoring of MS obligations/ management of fishing capacity Each Member State shall submit its annual report on its efforts during the previous year to achieve a sustainable balance between fishing capacity and fishing opportunities. On the basis of MS annual reports and the data in the E.Community fishing fleet register, the E.Commission produces a summary for each year and presents it to the Scientific, Technical and and Economic Committee for Fisheries and to the Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture.

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Trend in the capacity(GT)of the Greek fishing fleet for

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Trend in the capacity(kW) of the Greek fishing fleet for

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Annual report on fleet capacity management Presents the results of the entry-exit regime implementation The report is satisfactory if the situation of the fleet capacity, in GT and kW, is below the limitation ceilings. However….

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Improving annual fleet reports The Commission is working to imrpove the annual fleet reports, in particular the assessment of flet capacity but It is a Member State responsibility It is technically complex

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Efforts to improve Member States annual reports The Commission asked the STECF to produce guidelines for an improved analysis of the balance between fishing capacity and fishing opportunities. The STECF proposals constitute a simple methodology to assess capacity on the basis of some indicators